I’m currently sitting in our home away from home in Lauro, Italy (which is where all the photos in this post were taken) about to head out for a birthday lunch. I’m literally dripping in gratitude and just wanted to come here to jot down a few thoughts and share some updates with you. This a bit of a deviation from my typical travel content, so bear with me. Below are my birthday reflections from Italy.
If you would have told me 2 weeks ago that I would spending my birthday driving along Italy’s southern coast having just moved into a new apartment in a new borough the day before I would have said, “that sounds nice, but you’re crazy!”
That’s because 2 weeks ago I wasn’t even close to finding an apartment let alone signing a lease or moving in and I had no clue where or how I’d be spending my birthday.
It just goes to show you that the universe has a funny way of working things out. The hard part is maintaining faith through all the uncertainty. I wish I could say I was a cool cucumber through this whole process, but the truth is there were many moments over the past few weeks where i felt completely lost and hopeless. “I’ll never find a place.” “I’ll never find a place I can afford.” “I’ll never find a place in an area I want to live.” “Apartment hunting is a nightmare!” “New York is a nightmare!” “Apartment hunting in New York is a total nightmare!” And on, and on…
It wasn’t like I decided to move overnight. My roommate and friend of over 19 years and I decided back in January that after 7 years of being roomies it was time to part ways. We both agreed on September as a move out date, which gave me plenty of time to find an apartment. But as September crept up, I was no closer to finding a place to lay my head.
I looked at a few places, but they were either too small or too expensive or too far. Responding to Facebook and Craigslist ads can be demoralizing and on a few visits I told myself, “We’ll, could either be raped, murdered or find my dream apartment! Here we go!
After visiting yet another “absolutely not,” I was close to a breakdown when I decided to respond to a post for an apartment in Queens. The location was perfect and the price was right, but the ad looked like a scam and I didn’t have much hope.
To my surprise I got a response that same day and set up a viewing for the day after. The next morning I made my way from Brooklyn to Queens and pulled up to a cute 2 story home just blocks away from several adorable sidewalk cafes and Astoria Park.
As soon as the owner opened the door I felt good vibes, but the room itself was just ok. I thanked him and went on my way. A few hours later, I got a call at work. It was the owner telling me he had another room available, but this one offered much more privacy. I was sold! We made plans for me to check it out that night. As i was walking to my car, the owner called back to say the room had been taken. I was devastated and overcome by tears, and total exasperation!
Back to hunting…which turned up nothing over the next few days. Then, early last week I got a call from a familiar New York number. It was the owner again saying the tenant who he thought was taking the room had fallen though. I went that day to see it, loved it, met his wife, loved her too! And the rest, they say, is history. Two days later I signed the lease.
Since I hadn’t planned on moving until September, the next task at hand was finding a window to actually move! Between my summer work schedule at Delta and my birthday trip planned for August, there wasn’t much time.
After several discussions and coordinating schedules with my Russian, we concocted an ambitious plan. Since my vacation started on Tuesday, we would use the first 2 days to pack and move then fly to Italy on Thursday. Ambitious, crazy or both?! Definitely both!
I’m not really sure how, but SPOILER, we did it! It was almost like an out of body experience. Going through 7 years of accumulated stuff in 1.5 days was wild. At several points I wanted to set all my possessions ablaze and just live the rest of my days with 1 outfit and a toothbrush.
Luckily, I have an amazing man in my life who treats every task like a mission. His nickname when we were in law school was “Sargent Serge”. Needless to say, he runs a tight ship! Thanks to my knack for organizing and his for delegating and enforcement, we got the job done!
And as ambitious as it was to schedule our trip for the same day we finished moving, it was also kind of amazing. After 2 days of grueling work, we were treated with a champagne toast and 2 first class seats to Rome! If that’s not a lesson in “you gotta have faith,” I don’t know what is!
I’m so happy and grateful right now that I could just burst. My birthday isn’t even over yet and I’m already feeling like this is going to be a very good year!
If you’ve made it this far, my sincerest thanks for following along! And don’t worry, more travel content is coming your way soon!
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